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Psalm 66

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!2 Sing the glory of his name;make his praise glorious.3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!So great is your powerthat your enemies cringe before you.4 All the earth bows down to you;they sing praise to you,they sing the praises of your name.”[a]

5 Come and see what God has done,his awesome deeds for mankind!6 He turned the sea into dry land,they passed through the waters on foot—come, let us rejoice in him.7 He rules forever by his power,his eyes watch the nations—let not the rebellious rise up against him.

8 Praise our God, all peoples,let the sound of his praise be heard;9 he has preserved our livesand kept our feet from slipping.10 For you, God, tested us;you refined us like silver.11 You brought us into prisonand laid burdens on our backs.12 You let people ride over our heads;we went through fire and water,but you brought us to a place of abundance.

13 I will come to your temple with burnt offeringsand fulfill my vows to you—14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spokewhen I was in trouble.15 I will sacrifice fat animals to youand an offering of rams;I will offer bulls and goats.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;let me tell you what he has done for me.17 I cried out to him with my mouth;his praise was on my tongue.18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,the Lord would not have listened;19 but God has surely listenedand has heard my prayer.20 Praise be to God,who has not rejected my prayeror withheld his love from me!

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

1 May God be gracious to us and bless usand make his face shine on us—[c]2 so that your ways may be known on earth,your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise you, God;may all the peoples praise you.4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,for you rule the peoples with equityand guide the nations of the earth.5 May the peoples praise you, God;may all the peoples praise you.

6 The land yields its harvest;God, our God, blesses us.7 May God bless us still,so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Footnotes:

Psalm 66:4The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 7 and 15.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

The Law and Sin

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b]8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.

Footnotes:

Romans 7:5In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.